'Gazetteer of Arabia Vol. I' [‎457] (482/1050)

CAMEL TEADE OF ARABIA 4S7
c
The Camel Trade op Arabia.
The camel breeding tribes in Arabia are as follows : —
In the North the Ruwalla, Fedan, Amarat and Sba. These four Anazeh tribes are
^ famous breeders, and their herds are larger than those in any other
.1, T^ ^eni Salihr and Huweytat rear camels, but in smaller numbers,
Ihe bhammar of the Jezireh (Mesopotamia) are poor in camels.
In Central Arabia, the Shammar of J. Shammar, the 'Ateyba, the Qahtan and the
Dawasir. Of these the most renowned camel-breeders are the Qahtan though they
cannot rival the Anazeh. Some of the Harb, the sub-tribes of the Beni Salim and
the Bern All, are camel owners.
Mn'L^tr Arabia, the Muteyr, the Ajman, to a lesser extent, the Dhufir and the
M rra. The Menasir, south of the Hurra on the edge of the great sand desert, have
nri? ame a are se ^ om S€en by the merchants of the Qasim.
The camel trade has its centre in Damascus where almost all the capital is supplied.
The principal merchants are Muhammad A1 Bassam, a native of the Qasim, who until
Abdullah H^W ^ ^ hand ' Yasim A] Dhi ^ b ' S ^wah Ibn Rawwaf,
4 Se brmg into SOQ—400 raiyahs, i.e., 24,000—
JuwovH a Z' S ;h, r T 0116 M l WO d f aelrS in Ba S hda ' 1 . such as Assafiand Dand Ibn
near the T^n nviffl t fv" 1 ^ 8 ^mber of bcatste. They buy from the tribes
alone JhJ ■ 7 [T ^ Shamnlar and th e Amarat, and sell in Damascus, where
lone there is any market. About 300 camels are sold in Aleppo every Wednesday for
ZT "u the yef "'- • Th f Se T are mostl y from Sba and Fedanfbut some come
from the smaller people in the Jebel A1 Hass and the Euphrates valley. Most of the
soutlTHan^'for'SamascM. St S ' lt 0Ver the Amanu3 Asia Minor, but a few go
The dealers of Damascus and Baghdad employ as buyers men of the Ageyl. In the
f ri r0ng of Muhammad Ibn Rashid kept the desert under control
Cent^ and Wer a rr S v US< f t0 g0 0Ut and buy fr0m the tribes ' but when he died
thmnffh tvl r ^ T 80 turbulent tha t caravans could no longer pass
through them with any degree of safety, and the well-known Marawi family are
now almost the only Damascenes employed as buyers. The Ageyl are all Nejd
Arabs, townsfolk or nomads chiefly from the Qasim, and are always choson from
among tribes, such as the settled Beni Temim, who are not engaged in interminabk
socfetv Th7v V th 1 g™"!* 3 ' th e object being to ensure the neutrality of the
y t - ! 1 reeo ^ ls , ed g uldes and conductors of caravans in Arabia.
let organization partak ng of the nature of a club and a benefit society, with a presi
dent, who is always a native of Bureyda, and headquarters at Baghdad. But though
men of the Qasim carry on all the dealings with the tribes, they do it on behalf of the
Ts^ indon'TT ^ BaShd M d i th u ere 18 110 0ne in the ^ ^ capital
to set up mdopendontly, nor would he be m touch with the foreign markets.
In Central Arabia the trade is conducted from the Qasim. The Ageyl buy camels
th^e^T 8 - the * ummer ' after the harvest, and towards the end of the summer,
when the Bedouins need money to provide themselves with clothes and provision fo -
autumn and winter There ib a complete cessation of the trade during the winter The
Arabs are not m need of money, for they have laid in their «inter stock, and they prefer to
reserve their camels for breeding and for milk. Moreover, there is no difficulty in feeding
them after the first wmter rams have fallen in November The Aeevl pt > nnf in fhf
Qahtan and the Ateyba, but they buy the Dawasir, Murra and ^ufyr ^ml in
the Hasa They bring m their purchases to the Qasim district, and keep them out at
pasture during the winter. In the early spring they drive them north by the wells of
The f aC fi 0SS the . Hamad ' eith ? r b y Jof, or by more direct lines over the desert
They take rafiqs (guides and sureties) from the great Shevkhs of the Ana 7^ *
Ibn Hadhdhal, Ibn Shalan, Ibn Mijlad, Ibn Muheyd, Ibn Dughmi or Ibn Murshid 1
and cross the desert in complete security, travelling slowlv and Ipffino-i'
the^ca" 6 T ^h 7 T -n The ;,0Urne ^ t0 I)amascus takes about two months. They 0 brina
the camels either to Damascus and so down into Egypt, or in small numbers across Sinaf
C32MGSB S ' buy from Central Arabia, come down across the Nefud to
f